pitch
by belle parole
Summary: Lily doesn't know the exact time, but she figures that the bells signifying eleven o'clock rang around forty-five minutes ago, which means that she has just fifteen minutes to decide what to do or her time will have run out. Or fifteen minutes for the prince to find her, stuck on the steps, in a huge pile of pitch. [cinderella!au, for sienna]


_for sienna! happy birthday love! i hope you enjoy this. fiddle-dee-dee of course :p this is so cliche but /shrug :3 i love you and thank you for your friendship! ~_

 _prompts at the bottom_

 _2000 words, by google docs_

* * *

Lily is in deep, both literally and metaphorically. She shouldn't have gone to the ball in the first place. That was her problem originally. Now her problem was more… sticky.

How did she even get in this mess?

…

 _The ball was tempting. Everyone in the city was invited; the king and queen wanted a big pool of people to choose from. To choose a_ wife _from. For the prince. Ever since she was little, Lily_ loved _prince Scorpius. And her family was nobility. There was nothing stopping her from going to the ball and winning Scorpius' eye. Nothing except—_

" _No, Lily, you're too young."_

"What _?" Lily shouted, before remembering that she probably shouldn't shout. "What?" she asked again, quieter._

" _You're too young to go," her mother repeated. Lily frowned. That wasn't fair—she knew her older cousin Rose was going to go and Rose was only two years older than Lily. Rose was also very pretty. If Rose got Scorpius' hand…_

" _I'm plenty old!" Lily argued. This could be her chance, a real chance, to finally become a real princess._

" _Lily," her mother said in a warning tone. That's when Lily knew that she wouldn't win so she stalked off to her bedroom instead, trying to think of a better plan._

…

Lily doesn't know the exact time, but she figures that the bells signifying eleven o'clock rang around forty-five minutes ago, which means that she has just fifteen minutes to decide what to do or her time will have run out. Or fifteen minutes for the prince to find her, stuck on the steps, in a huge pile of pitch.

She's having a great night.

She's so used to _not_ having to decide—her parents basically control her life. Now that she thinks about it, this is probably her first decision, well, _ever_.

It's exciting. And terrifying.

…

 _She has no plan. The ball is about to start and Lily has no plan on how to sneak out of the house. Her parents would just_ know _, right away, that she was gone. Sighing, Lily went over to her closet. If she couldn't be at the ball, the least she could do is throw on a pretty dress and pretend she was actually there._

 _As soon as she opened the closet, something flew out at her, right on her face._

" _Gah!" she yelled, trying to get it off. There was a few seconds of struggling before Lily's face got free. She blinked and looked up to see something hovering above her, wings fluttering hard._

 _Lily's mouth hung open for a bit before she was able to gasp out, "Fairy."_

 _The tiny creature seemed disgruntled at this—their wings give a little shake, along with their entire body, which couldn't be more than four inches tall and was also completely blue._

" _I'm a_ pixie _, girl," a voice said. Lily didn't think the pixie's mouth moved, but the voice was in her head, clear as day._

" _Pixie," Lily corrected, still sputtering. She had seen a lot of weird things in her life—her grandfather_ worked _in weird things—but she never saw a pixie. Those didn't exist._

" _I do exist. That's why I'm here," the voice of the pixie came again. "I am Somnum, the pixie and protector of the Royal family." Lily nodded, because there was nothing else to do, really, but accept that this was a thing._

" _Why are you here?" Lily asked. If Somnum was a protector of the Royal family, shouldn't she be at the ball_ protecting the Royal family _._

" _No sass, girl," Somnum's voice comes again. "First off, I am a_ they _. Not a she. And second, I_ am _protecting the royal family. Tonight, Prince Scorpius will choose the wrong girl to wed. You must be at the wedding to stop him and convince him to marry_ you _."_

 _Lily hesitated. The plan sounded great, but there was one problem: her parents._

" _Don't worry about your parents," Somnum says. "I have power over sleep. I will make sure they stay asleep. You will be able to go to tonight balls, and the two after. But—" Somnum hesitated and Lily stood up taller. That didn't sound good._

" _But what?" she asked, worried._

" _You must be back by midnight. After midnight, I will no longer have any control over your parents' sleep."_

 _Lily breathed. That didn't seem so bad. And she could go to the ball!_

" _I'll do it," she told Somnum. Somnum gives a little shake._

" _You'd better get dressed into your very best dress, then."_

…

She's not sure if she can hear the prince's horse approaching, or if that's just her heart pounding in her ears.

If she's correct about the time, that means she only has a few minutes to get unstuck _and_ get home. She's going to be in so much trouble.

On the other hand, why not just let Scorpius find her? Somnum told her that she needed to get married to him, to prevent him from marrying the wrong girl, but there's something that scares Lily about getting suddenly married. She isn't sure if she was ready. Maybe her mother is right. Maybe she _is_ too young.

Breathing hard, Lily slips off one shoe, pulling her foot out and stepping outside of the pitch. She could probably just yank her shoes out, once she's standing outside of the pitch and run home, but something stops her—is she really about to leave this life behind?

…

 _The ball was even more beautiful than she thought it would be. She realised, with a jolt, that her dress matched the golden decorations hanging all around, as if Somnum specifically chose this dress for that reason._

 _Then again, Somnum probably_ did _._

 _Taking a deep breath, Lily went on a search, for the prince himself._ _He wasn't hard to find; he found_ her _, standing on the side of the ballroom._

" _And what is a fair maiden such as yourself doing all alone?"_

 _Lily turned to face him and… damn. He was really cute, with perfect blond hair and light grey eyes._

" _Waiting for a prince to invite me to dance," she responded, her heart beating in her throat._

" _Then invited you shall be," Prince Scorpius said, offering her a hand. She took it with a smile, letting Scorpius lead her to the dancefloor and lead her in a slow waltz. It was nice, dancing there with Scorpius. She could feel eyes on her, people wondering who the prince was dancing with, but she ignored them, indulging in herself for just a moment._

" _You're a nice dancer," Scorpius remarked, whispering into her ear. It sent shivers down her spine and down to her toes. "You take lessons?"_

" _My parents would never let me," she said truthfully—the amount of times she asked!—her parents said that she would never use it. Well, she was using dancing now!_

 _And then the Church bell rang. Lily held her breath and counted: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Lily knew that she had until midnight, according to Somnum, but she still broke away from Scorpius; it was better to be early than late and it took her awhile to get back to her house, anyway._

" _I have to go," she said, looking Scorpius in the eyes. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. She was with Scorpius. And she was leaving him, but she had two other nights. It would be okay._

 _Scorpius opened her mouth as if he was about to respond but Lily turned on her heel and started to head out._

…

Lily starts to make a Pros and Cons list. Her Aunt Hermione always tells her to do that when she has a problem.

Pros of staying are: she'll be with _Scorpius_. The hot prince she loved since she was small. She will also be able to fulfill another childhood dream: she'll be royalty. Her parents' nobility is nice, but she always wants more. She wants _royalty_. With Scorpius, she can achieve that.

The cons: her parents will _murder_ her for going off without their permission. She won't be able to be royalty because she'll be _dead_.

She needs to figure out a way to make Scorpius come to _her_ and ask her for her hand in marriage. Maybe then her parents will allow it; the prince will have offered it himself, after all. She justs needs to figure out a way for him to find her again, and _fast_ —she can definitely hear the prince's horses coming.

…

 _The second night she came earlier, intent on spending more time with Scorpius. She had only two more nights left to spend with him and convince him to_ marry _her. Right away, Scorpius found her._

" _You left so suddenly yesterday," he said, surprising her. She tried not to jump._

" _I had places to be," she said, hoping that she'll sound dark and mysterious and maybe Scorpius would like her more._

" _I'd like to learn more about these 'places'," he said, giving her a smile, "and about you. May we have another dance?"_

 _He offered his hand and she took it, letting him lead her to the middle of the dance floor. They talked all night, Scorpius not even pausing to dance with another suitor. When it rang eleven, though, she pulled away again. She needed to go home, no matter how much she wanted to stay._

 _She had one more night, though._

…

Her plan has no faults. She gingerly steps outside of the pitch, being barefoot for a second and, panicking at the sound of horses getting closer, she yanks a single shoe up, leaving the other stuck in the pitch. She's about to turn away and run when a voice calls, "Wait!"

…

 _The third night made Lily feel sad. She knew that she needed to convince Scorpius to marry her_ tonight _, or she'll have failed Somnum. Still, something made her squeasy about getting married._

" _I didn't think you'd return, in all honesty," a voice said, making her turn to be face to face with Scorpius._

" _I needed to come back to you," she replied._

" _Shall we dance?" he asked, for the third night in a row. Lily didn't even know why she came back; she wasn't even sure that she could go through with the marriage. Wouldn't it have been better to just ignore the third night? Still, she came._

" _Where_ do _you go, when you leave?" Scorpius asked her as he led her in a slow dance. Eyes were on them again, mostly because almost no one there knew who Lily was. There were some of Lily's cousins who attended, but other than that, she was a stranger; her parents didn't associate with these circles, much._

" _I told you yesterday," she said with a little smile, "I have places to go."_

" _Places more important than being with me?" Scorpius asked in a joking tone. She smiles._

" _Only a little bit more."_

 _They danced the rest of the night, until the clock stuck eleven. Lily pulled away, prepared to go despite failing Somnum's mission, but Scorpius saw her about to leave and reached forward, taking her head in his hands and drawing her closer, making their lips crash together._

 _And then they got married because a true kiss solved everything._

 _Except that didn't happen, because Lily knew that things like that only happened in fairytales and her parents wouldn't be held by Somnum, soon._

" _I have to go," she said, breathing hard. Without even waiting for an answer, she turn and ran._

 _Until she got stuck in a pile of pitch, right on the stairs._

…

"I don't even know your name yet." Lily turns to see Scorpius standing a little bit off, looking slightly disheveled. "I wish to marry you, yet you run. At least give me your name, fair maiden!"

Lily thinks for a second. A name couldn't hurt, right?

"Lily," she says, still breathing hard, her lips still tingling.

And then she turns and runs.

* * *

 _for:_

 _auction [fantasy]_

 _couple appreciation [restriction - 2000 words exactly]_

 _film festival [11. princess, 43. breaking the rules]_

 _writing club [amber's attic - 18; lyric alley - 11; sophie's shelf - the ingenue]_

 _bingo [76]_

 _build a bunny [green]_


End file.
